By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The role of Hedda Gabler, the female lead and title-role in Henrik Ibsen’s celebrated 1890 play Hedda Gabler, has been called ‘the female Hamlet’, because, as the Prince of Denmark is the role many male actors (and quite a few female ones) have wanted to play, so women in the world of theatre want to give their distinctive interpretation of Hedda Gabler.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Ghosts, perhaps Henrik Ibsen’s most unremittingly bleak play, caused a scandal when it was first performed in 1882. It was memorably denounced as an ‘open sewer’ by one critic, for its frank exploration of sexual promiscuity and venereal disease.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
A Doll’s House is one of the most important plays in all modern drama. Written by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1879, the play is well-known for its shocking ending, which attracted both criticism and admiration from audiences when it premiered.
Before we offer an analysis of A Doll’s House, it might be worth recapping the ‘story’ of the play, which had its roots in real-life events involving a friend of Ibsen’s.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is undoubtedly the most famous Norwegian playwright who has ever lived. He wrote a number of classic plays in a variety of modes and genres, so in this post we’ve limited ourselves to five of Ibsen’s very best plays.
Hedda Gabler.
The role of Hedda Gabler is often considered ‘the female Hamlet’, since actresses want to tackle the role and offer their own interpretation of the character. When her father died, the headstrong Hedda married Tesman, a struggling history lecturer, but soon realises she has made a terrible mistake. This 1890 play is one of Ibsen’s finest achievements, with the tragedy of Hedda’s life unfolding before us on the stage.